RE-1 Valley Board of Education discusses changes to meeting format

STERLING -- The RE-1 Valley Board of Education met for a workshop on Monday to discuss their meeting formats.

Before the workshop the board held a special meeting where they approved, on first reading, revisions to two policies. The revisions were approved 6-0, with Dorcas Brekel absent from the meeting.

Policy GCBA, regarding instructional staff contracts/compensation/salary schedules, was revised to include a statement about employees not being eligible for movement on the salary schedule if they are on a remedial evaluation plan.

Additionally, policy JS, regarding student use of the Internet and Internet publications, was revised to include information on electronic communications. The revisions were provided by the Colorado Association of School Boards.

In other business, the board adopted a finalized version of the district mission, vision and beliefs.

The district's mission is "Preparing each student today for tomorrow."

Their vision is to create a quality learning environment that provides respect and value for individual students; innovative effective teaching and instructional delivery methods to meet student needs; and curriculum programs and technology that prepares students for 21st century learning skills.

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To achieve RE-1's mission, the district believes:

The staff, students and RE-1 Valley community must work in a cooperative and collaborative effort to provide a quality educational system;

Staff, students, families and the RE-1 Valley community have a shared responsibility to be involved in the development of moral standards, work ethics, values and respect for all;

Each individual is entitled to respect and opportunities to experience success in a developmentally appropriate environment;

Each student will be provided a safe learning environment with highly qualified, proficient staff;

Curriculum will provide the opportunity for each student's academic growth based on district and state standards.

The document also states that RE-1 will be a place where the trust level encourages a climate of growth to meet new challenges.

During the workshop the board discussed tying the agenda to their mission/vision and goals, "so that becomes something we can measure throughout the course of the year or throughout the course of the meeting," said board president Eric Windom.

"We tried having our goals on the agenda. This is the next step, so it really enforces or reinforces them," he said.

There was discussion about having one business meeting and one workshop each month, instead of two business meetings, which would require a change to the district policy.

"I think it's very feasible to go to one regular (business meeting) a month," Superintendent Betty Summers told the board.

That might mean changing the days the board meets. Right now, they meet the first and third Mondays of the month for business meetings and they have workshops on some nights when they don't have regular business meetings.

Business meetings would include action items, short presentations, celebrations and written briefs from Assistant Superintendent Ron Marostica, Summers and the different buildings, about challenges and triumphs.

There was discussion about whether briefs should be included in the consent agenda and accepted or if they need to be part of the regular agenda. Summers said she would check with the district attorney on that.

Workshops would include celebrations, presentations and discussion about topics to prepare the board for upcoming business meetings, which could make the business meetings go faster. Summers said that the strength of the board is the discussions they have and that they don't want to lose that.

She also noted that the workshops could allow for more time for the board to hear presentations about programs and different things going on in the district.

The board discussed the possibility of some of Marostica's presentations taking place during the workshop, so he has more time to share information.

They also talked about allowing a time for communication with the public at the beginning of the meeting and scheduling time for the board to have conversations with the public on certain topics.

Plus, the board talked about working to make sure they respond in some way when the public makes comments to the board or groups like the District Accountability Advisory Committee present reports, so the individual or groups feel they were heard. Windom pointed out the workshops could be used to look at what they're going to do with the information shared.

There was discussion about possibly having the workshops at one of the schools if a school has something they want to share with the board.

The board talked about a time frame for both meetings, to be respectful of everyone's time. They agreed to start meetings at 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. and the typical time for a business meeting or workshop will be two hours, with the understanding that they may be shorter or longer sometimes.

Myra Westfall pointed out that they don't need to be coming up with things to discuss just to have workshops, if there is nothing that needs discussed then they don't need to have a workshop.

Discussion about the new meeting format will continue at the board's next meeting, Monday, Nov. 19. The new format will be put into place starting next year.

RE-1 Valley School District has announced its policy for determining eligibility of children who may receive free and reduced price meals served under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program.
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